Carol originally left with Daryl.
Three other people almost ended up as governor of the Commonwealth.
And another character almost had a much different fate.
Christian Serratos on ‘The Walking Dead’ series finale.Jace Downs/AMC
We’ve got the scoop on what almost happened in The Walking Dead series finale.
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the series finale ofThe Walking Dead.
We also spoke to Chandler Riggs about hissecret onscreen cameo, and chatted withChristian SerratosaboutRosita’s heartbreaking fate.
Christian Serratos and Seth Gilliam on ‘The Walking Dead’ series finale.Jace Downs/AMC
But we have so many more questions!
Big questions like: Why Did Ezekiel end up leading the Commonwealth?
Small questions like: Where the heck was Annie?
Alex Sgambati on ‘The Walking Dead’ series finale.Jace Downs/AMC
Random questions like: How did Living Colour and Fleetwood Mac make it into the episode for key scenes?
Christian Serratos asked for Rosita to die in the finale.
ANGELA KANG:Christian Serratos volunteered for Rosita to die.
Michael James Shaw and Khary Payton on ‘The Walking Dead’ series finale.Jace Downs/AMC
And she told me to think about it.
She’s like, “I want that character to go out strong.”
I want to die saving the children."
Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus on ‘The Walking Dead’ series finale.Jace Downs/AMC
And we make a run at take those things into account.
She was 100 percent committed.
We’ve had characters go on the show that weren’t ready to go.
Greg Nicotero on ‘The Walking Dead’ series finale.Jace Downs/AMC
So I give her a tremendous amount of credit for that.
I think that she had fantastic instincts on that.
Luke and Jules totally took one for the team by dying.
Zombie Greg Nicotero with Melissa McBride and Norman Reedus on set of ‘The Walking Dead’ series finale.Courtesy of Greg Nicotero
KANG:We didn’t know right away that we were going to have them die.
And we love Dan Fogler.
We love Alex, who plays Jules.
Greg Nicotero on set of ‘The Walking Dead’ series finale.Courtesy of Greg Nicotero
They die early in the episode, but they do it with such style.
So we were appreciative that they came back and sacrificed for the rest of our cast.
Ezekiel may be the new governor of the Commonwealth, but it was almost Mercer.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan on ‘The Walking Dead’.Jace Downs/AMC
And it was almost Carol.
And it was almost Maggie.
KANG:It changed a lot through the season.
Medina Senghore on ‘The Walking Dead’.Josh Stringer/AMC
We talked about maybe Mercer becomes that person.
We talked about maybe Carol becomes that person, maybe Maggie becomes that person.
And he is a very, very community-focused throw in of a leader.
Season 1 zombies on ‘The Walking Dead’.AMC
The Kingdom was really the most joyful of all the communities.
And they were strong, and they were really good at being collaborative with the other communities around them.
And that felt like the right kind of leader to go forward.
Teo Rapp-Olsson as Sebastian Milton on ‘The Walking Dead’.Jace Downs/AMC
But I kind of thought maybe Mercer needs one civilian step before he becomes a full leader.
You know what I mean?
I think he’s like, “I don’t think that’s my path, man.
I’m a soldier.”
Carol was originally going to ride off with Daryl at the end.
KANG:The change with Melissanot going into the spin-offhappened pretty late in the game.
So we’d always planned that the two of them weregoing to ride off together.
But Norman and Melissa’s wish was to just keep it really, really simple and emotional.
So I kind of rewrote it accordingly.
It’s all part of a collaboration, and we work on it.
So the first scene with Daryl and a zombie, I was the zombie.
I wanted to bookend it.
So at lunch, I ran to the makeup trailer.
[See photos below.]
And then for the rest of the day, I directed in zombie makeup.
Negan finally learned to shut his mouth and walk away.
KANG:After that nod to Daryl, he’s just focused on the present.
And what he knows is, “I got to go home and see my wife.
The way he’s grown is by giving her space.
And there’s nothing selfish about it.
It’s not like he’s moping about it.
So I think that was really what was behind him going off.
But that didn’t feel true to what the two of them had been through this season.
Here’s why Negan’s wife, Annie, wasn’t in the finale.
KANG:Annie was back at Alexandria.
And there were choices that had to be made for scheduling reasons.
So there were scenes that sometimes had to be cut as a result.
So we were going to see Annie again.
And we didn’t end up seeing her.
Sometimes it’s just circumstance, and we can’t control it.
And so she was a character that was maybe going to continue or maybe not.
And so she was going to be in jeopardy, but we always intended for her to be alive.
That’s where the variant scenario came from.
In the first season ofWalking Dead,we usedNight of the Living Deadas our bible.
It sort of drowned out some parts and felt a little too similar throughout.
We listened to a bazillion different songs that our music supervisor sent.
For a while, it was the New Radicals song.
Because oddly, the quirkiness of it worked.
But there’s something really, really cool about “Cult of Personality.”
And I think it works for Pamela and her cult of personality.
Sebastian Milton was originally going to live until the finale… and then die.
KANG:Sebastian was originally going to make it all the way into episode 24.
There would have been many more shenanigans and f—ed-up things.
And she would’ve purposely put him into a situation where he was going to not make it.
And it made so many interesting things for Hornsby and Pamela and things like that.
And we’re like, “Maybe.”
So we worked on the story.
Stuff like this happens every season, by the way.
I think Scott might have also been like, “But what if Sebastian dies here?”
And what branches out from that?
